Deep Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting

I was seriously doubting my vegan baking abilities. It seemed like I was failing at everything I tried to make (see - scuffin and coconut cake entries). Baking is one of my favorite things. Creating something delicious and sweet for other people to enjoy makes me ridiculously happy. When my baking doesn't turn out quite right, I feel like a failure and get sad that all the love that I put into it is lost.

For my co-worker and good friend's birthday I decided to give it another go. I was determined to make this work. I found this amazing looking recipe on ichef.com, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best.

Cake:
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup cold water or chilled brewed coffee
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Chocolate Peanut Butter Frosting :
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp water (plus a little more if needed)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup confectioner's sugar

Cake Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Generously oil an 8-inch square or round baking pan and dust with a little sifted cocoa or line the bottom with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, soda, salt, and sugar. In another bowl, combine the oil, water or coffee, and vanilla. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until well-blended and smooth.

Add the vinegar and stir briefly; the baking soda will begin to react with the vinegar right away, leaving pale swirls in the batter. Without wasting any time, pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes, then frost with Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting.

Chocloate Peanut Butter Frosting Instructions:
In a double boiler or small heavy saucepan, melt the chocolate on medium heat. (You can also melt it in the microwave.) While it melts, beat together the peanut butter, water, and vanilla until smooth. Beat in the confectioner's sugar and add the melted chocolate, mixing until blended. Spread the frosting on the cooled cake.

I almost screwed up. I was so close to ruining my beautiful cake. Normally, all dry ingredients are combined, then all wet ingredients are combined, and then you mix the two together. In my mind I thought the vinegar (being a wet ingredient) would go into the oil/water/vanilla mixture. IT DOESN'T. IT WILL TOTALLY SCREW UP THE CAKE! Thankfully I realized this before I combined the two. I threw out the wrong wrong wrong oil/water/vanilla/vinegar mixture and started again with the wet ingredients. Disaster averted. I combined the dry and wet ingredients, THEN the vinegar was added and quickly stirred in. Cake batter delicious and complete!
The icing was mad easy to make - no trouble there. And oh man did it taste good. It's not as easy to spread though. The middle and top of the cake was no problem but covering the sides of the cake proved kind of tricky. It didn't like to stick in certain spots.
My goal for this cake is to make my coworkers realize that vegan baking is completely normal and tastes just like regular baking - when I don't screw it up.